METRO ATLANTIC ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (MAAC)
- Wednesday, February 12 – Saturday, February 15
- Erie Community College, Buffalo, NY (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Rider men (8x) & Fairfield women (2x) (Results: 1, 2, 3, 4)
- Live results
- Live Video
- Championship Central
- Day 3 Results
The 2020 MAAC Championships continued tonight with finals of the 100 fly, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, and 400 medley relay. The defending women’s champion, Fairfield, leads 2019 runner-up Marist by just 20 points. After placing 5th last season, Iona is sitting in the top 3 headed into the final day. On the men’s side, defending champion Rider is up by over 100 points on Marist. It looks like the race is on for 2nd between Bryant and Marist. The Fairfield men, who placed 9th last season, are within striking range of a top 5 finish. They’re 38 points behind the current 5th-place team Monmouth.
After defending her title in the 50 free last night, Fairfield’s Maria Nitti picked up another win in the 200 free. Nitti won the race by 2 seconds, swimming a lifetime best 1:51.34. Teammate Morgan Hansen broke the MAAC Record twice in the 100 fly. She first set the mark at 54.97 in prelims before lowering it to a 54.65 to repeat as champion.
Bryant’s FuKang Wong took down the MAAC Record twice in the 100 breast. He clipped the record with a 53.71 in prelims before going on to win the final in 53.40. This is Wong’s first season in the MAAC after transferring from Southern Illinois. In the women’s 100 breast, Rider’s Kyra Schwerzler came from behind to narrowly out-touch Monmouth’s Tahlia Batha, 1:04.11 to 1:04.21. That was Schwerzler’s first best time in the event since 2018 and a drop of 3 tenths.
Rider’s Justin Carey, the 2018 champion and 2019 runner-up, took his 2nd individual win of the weekend in the 100 fly (47.83). Carey also placed 3rd in the 100 back (48.25), an event in which he holds the MAAC Record and was the 2019 champion. Taking the title, however, was Monmouth’s Callan Smith (47.86).
Rider freshman Matt Lequang, who won the 500 free on night 2, also picked up another win in the 200 free. He broke 1:38 for the first time in 1:37.78. Fellow freshman Lucas Racevicius (1:38.71) gave them a 1-2 finish. Racevicius led off the 800 free relay on Wednesday with a new best time, but lowered his best again by 6 hundredths. Rider wound up with 4 individual titles for the day. Kayla May, who won the 200 IM last night, repeated as champion in the 100 back. Her lifetime best 55.03 was within half a second of the MAAC Record.
Cansius College’s Kelsey Childress made a huge drop, taking nearly 5 seconds off her best to win the 400 IM in 4:27.87. That broke her own school record from last season’s MAAC meet. Fairfield’s Evan Fair was just off his best time to win the men’s race in 3:55.22.
The men’s 400 medley relay went to Bryant (3:15.25), as Matthew Mays (back- 47.72) and Wong (breast- 53.35) had the fastest splits of the field. Fairfield won the women’s relay in 3:48.36, with Hansen pulling them ahead on the fly in a 54.20 split.
WOMEN’S SCORES THROUGH DAY 3
- Fairfield University 419
- Marist College Swimming/Diving 399
- Iona College 350
- Rider University 332
- Canisius College 319
- Monmouth University 272.5
- Niagara University 186.5
- Siena College 146
- Saint Peter’s University 101
- Manhattan College 82
MEN’S SCORES THROUGH DAY 3
- Rider University 479.5
- Marist College Swimming/Diving 331
- Bryant University 314
- Iona College 298
- Monmouth University 246
- Saint Peter’s University 218
- Fairfield University 208
- Canisius College 180.5
- Manhattan College 96
- Niagara University 82